blank documents contain characters in Word

[Guest]

I attempt to open a blank document and it opens an old document that I had
saved. Any advise?

product: Word 2003

 

[Joe McGuire]

This is a frequent question. Your normal.dot got corrupted. Close Word,
search for normal.dot, making sure that you have set Folder Options to
Display Hidden Files. Delete the file and restart Word. It will create a
new normal.dot. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/BlankDocNotBlank.htm

 

[Graham Mayor]

This is not, incidentally, the advice in the link you quote

*Rename* normal.dot rather than delete it, to preserve the personalisations
it will contain.

 

[Joe McGuire]

Thanks. My suggestion reduced a few pages of explanation to the barest
essence: the really short answer. My wife would marvel at my unaccustomed
brevity. "Just give me the short answer!" is her anthem. But yes, renaming
the "bad" normal.dot is probably the better way, particularly if the user
had significantly customized the normal template. This would provide an
opportunity to salvage some or perhaps all of it. The complete answer, of
course, is contained in the link and probably in other papers as well.

 

[Graham Mayor]

The problem is that by quoting the solution the user is not likely to view
the link.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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[Daiya Mitchell]

Or, as I did the other day, adding what I thought was a supplement to the
link only to realize it was likely to be viewed as an answer and to prevent
the person from going to the link.